George Clymer

George Clymer was one of the signers who put his money where his mouth was during the Revolutionary War.

Clymer was a wealthy Philadelphia businessman who became a tireless advocate for independence in a Pennsylvania delegation that wavered on the issue. He served as a treasurer for the early war effort, personally financing some military costs and chartering a bank that is credited with saving a poorly supplied American army from dissolution in 1780.

So outspoken a critic of the crown was Clymer that when British troops were marching on Philadelphia, they took a detour to his home, vandalizing his property and driving his wife and children into the nearby woods.

Clymer served President Washington in various government posts until 1796, when he became a founder and president of the Philadelphia Bank and lived out his remaining years as a philanthropist.